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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Officer Indicted For Murder Has Local Ties
Posted by:
McGruff - The Crime Dog!
()
Date: June 03, 2012 08:52AM
Officer Indicted For Murder Has Local Ties
Questions remain in fatal shooting of motorist by Culpeper policeman, a graduate of Madison High
By Erica R. Hendry
June 1, 2012
http://vienna.patch.com/articles/officer-indicted-for-murder-has-local-ties
Culpeper Police Officer Daniel Harmon-Wright was indicted this week by a special grand jury on a murder charge stemming from a confrontation that ended in the death of a female motorist in February — a finding rare in other cases nationwide of officers acting in the line of duty.
The Washington Post reported Harmon-Wright, 32, of Gainesville, was also indicted on charges of malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in a death and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
Witnesses offer different accounts of what happened Feb. 9, when Patricia Cook, 54, of Culpeper was pronounced dead after allegedly being shot by Harmon-Wright five times, the Post reported.
Harmon-Wright was responding to a call about a suspicious woman sitting in a parked Jeep Wrangler outside the Epiphany Catholic School, according to the Huffington Post.
Virginia State Police said "while attempting to retrieve her identification, the woman suddenly closed her driver's side window trapping the officer's arm and started driving away dragging the officer alongside," the Huffington Post reported.
Some witnesses said they saw Harmon-Wright stop Cook's vehicle and then begin yelling when she rolled up the window. His fingers were trapped in the window, Cook dragging him along the road as she drove away, accelerating and quickly braking over the span of about 50 feet. He fired shots when she wouldn't stop her Jeep, they said.
The prosecution argued Harmon-Wright wasn't actually trapped or dragged. Some of its witnesses say the car began moving first, with Harmon-Wright yelling "Stop or I'll shoot" before firing at point-blank range, with more shots than may have been necessary.
Harmon-Wright, whom the Post says graduated from Madison High School in 1998, joined the Culpeper force in 2006. Daniel Harmon-WrightCredit Huffington Post (Police file photo).
Attachments:
Questions remain in fatal shooting of motorist by Culpeper policeman, a graduate of Madison High
By Erica R. Hendry
June 1, 2012
http://vienna.patch.com/articles/officer-indicted-for-murder-has-local-ties
Culpeper Police Officer Daniel Harmon-Wright was indicted this week by a special grand jury on a murder charge stemming from a confrontation that ended in the death of a female motorist in February — a finding rare in other cases nationwide of officers acting in the line of duty.
The Washington Post reported Harmon-Wright, 32, of Gainesville, was also indicted on charges of malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in a death and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
Witnesses offer different accounts of what happened Feb. 9, when Patricia Cook, 54, of Culpeper was pronounced dead after allegedly being shot by Harmon-Wright five times, the Post reported.
Harmon-Wright was responding to a call about a suspicious woman sitting in a parked Jeep Wrangler outside the Epiphany Catholic School, according to the Huffington Post.
Virginia State Police said "while attempting to retrieve her identification, the woman suddenly closed her driver's side window trapping the officer's arm and started driving away dragging the officer alongside," the Huffington Post reported.
Some witnesses said they saw Harmon-Wright stop Cook's vehicle and then begin yelling when she rolled up the window. His fingers were trapped in the window, Cook dragging him along the road as she drove away, accelerating and quickly braking over the span of about 50 feet. He fired shots when she wouldn't stop her Jeep, they said.
The prosecution argued Harmon-Wright wasn't actually trapped or dragged. Some of its witnesses say the car began moving first, with Harmon-Wright yelling "Stop or I'll shoot" before firing at point-blank range, with more shots than may have been necessary.
Harmon-Wright, whom the Post says graduated from Madison High School in 1998, joined the Culpeper force in 2006. Daniel Harmon-WrightCredit Huffington Post (Police file photo).
Attachments:
Re: Officer Indicted For Murder Has Local Ties
Posted by:
McGruff - The Crime Dog!
()
Date: June 03, 2012 08:54AM
In Culpeper, mystery surrounds police officer’s fatal shooting of homemaker
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/in-culpeper-mystery-surrounds-fatal-police-shooting-of-sunday-school-teacher/2012/05/31/gJQAHQYb5U_story_1.html
For about 50 yards, Hawes said, Cook began alternately slamming on the brakes and hitting the accelerator.
Harmon-Wright ordered her to stop and then shot her with the gun in his free hand when she failed to do so, Hawes said. Hawes added that the additional shots were “more than necessary” but said his client was defending himself.
“All of this happened in the space of three seconds. He was pretty well panicked,” Hawes said.
But the attorney contends that it went beyond that. He said Cook was depressed and looking to take her own life via a confrontation with police.
Greg Webb, an attorney for Cook’s husband, said that those claims are baseless and that the accusation amounted to an attempt to blame the victim. Gary Cook is pursuing a $5 million civil suit against Harmon-Wright.
Webb said he believes that Harmon-Wright “snapped.” “Five shots seem beyond the pale,” he said. “When you start firing that many times, it makes you wonder what’s going on. Anger? Frustration?”
Soon after the killing, Culpeper Police Chief Chris Jenkins asked the Virginia State Police to investigate. Authorities initially said that Harmon-Wright’s arm was trapped and that he was dragged during his encounter with Cook. But Jim Fisher, the special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, said that description was inaccurate.
“These words, ‘trapped’ and ‘dragged,’ were not words that would I use,” said Fisher, who declined to discuss additional details of the case.
Different backgrounds
The case has also raised questions about whether Harmon-Wright should have been on the force. Harmon-Wright’s mother, Bethany Sullivan, who was the administrative secretary to the former Culpeper police chief, was charged with forging Harmon-Wright’s 2006 performance evaluation and his Town of Culpeper entrance exam, according to court records. She could not be reached for comment.
Cook was from Illinois but moved to Culpeper about eight years ago, said Randy Orndorff, her pastor. He said the former cosmetologist was always immaculately made up. She enjoyed quilting, but most of all loved teaching Sunday school. “She got a lot out of it because she didn’t have any children,” Orndorff said.
Gary Cook woke up early for a job at the General Services Administration in the District, so the pair enjoyed catching up at night. Webb said dinner is now the hardest time of the day for his client.
Harmon-Wright came from a different background. Fairfax County school officials said a student under a name he used to use graduated from James Madison High in 1998. He then joined the military and was deployed to Iraq in 2003, according to a profile matching his description on the Web site Classmates.com.
Hawes said Harmon-Wright, who is married and has a young son, joined the Culpeper police in 2006 and has never been disciplined. His family members did not respond to calls for comment.
Some Culpeper residents said they were angry officials did not move quickly to release information about the shooting after witnesses contradicted the initial state police version of events.
A Culpeper resident started a “Justice for Patricia Cook” Facebook page and online petition calling for charges to be filed against Harmon-Wright. James Jennings also wants “a professional postmortem on how this happened.”
Culpeper’s mayor and police chief did not return calls for comment, but town spokesman Wally Bunker said there were no plans for such a review. He said Culpeper officials’ hands were tied about disseminating information because the state was handling the case.
“I certainly understand their anger, but we were in the same predicament. We were waiting for the results of the investigation just like they were,” he said.
Staff researcher Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
(AP) - Culpeper police officer Daniel Harmon-Wright, 32, of Gainesville, Va.
Attachments:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/in-culpeper-mystery-surrounds-fatal-police-shooting-of-sunday-school-teacher/2012/05/31/gJQAHQYb5U_story_1.html
For about 50 yards, Hawes said, Cook began alternately slamming on the brakes and hitting the accelerator.
Harmon-Wright ordered her to stop and then shot her with the gun in his free hand when she failed to do so, Hawes said. Hawes added that the additional shots were “more than necessary” but said his client was defending himself.
“All of this happened in the space of three seconds. He was pretty well panicked,” Hawes said.
But the attorney contends that it went beyond that. He said Cook was depressed and looking to take her own life via a confrontation with police.
Greg Webb, an attorney for Cook’s husband, said that those claims are baseless and that the accusation amounted to an attempt to blame the victim. Gary Cook is pursuing a $5 million civil suit against Harmon-Wright.
Webb said he believes that Harmon-Wright “snapped.” “Five shots seem beyond the pale,” he said. “When you start firing that many times, it makes you wonder what’s going on. Anger? Frustration?”
Soon after the killing, Culpeper Police Chief Chris Jenkins asked the Virginia State Police to investigate. Authorities initially said that Harmon-Wright’s arm was trapped and that he was dragged during his encounter with Cook. But Jim Fisher, the special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, said that description was inaccurate.
“These words, ‘trapped’ and ‘dragged,’ were not words that would I use,” said Fisher, who declined to discuss additional details of the case.
Different backgrounds
The case has also raised questions about whether Harmon-Wright should have been on the force. Harmon-Wright’s mother, Bethany Sullivan, who was the administrative secretary to the former Culpeper police chief, was charged with forging Harmon-Wright’s 2006 performance evaluation and his Town of Culpeper entrance exam, according to court records. She could not be reached for comment.
Cook was from Illinois but moved to Culpeper about eight years ago, said Randy Orndorff, her pastor. He said the former cosmetologist was always immaculately made up. She enjoyed quilting, but most of all loved teaching Sunday school. “She got a lot out of it because she didn’t have any children,” Orndorff said.
Gary Cook woke up early for a job at the General Services Administration in the District, so the pair enjoyed catching up at night. Webb said dinner is now the hardest time of the day for his client.
Harmon-Wright came from a different background. Fairfax County school officials said a student under a name he used to use graduated from James Madison High in 1998. He then joined the military and was deployed to Iraq in 2003, according to a profile matching his description on the Web site Classmates.com.
Hawes said Harmon-Wright, who is married and has a young son, joined the Culpeper police in 2006 and has never been disciplined. His family members did not respond to calls for comment.
Some Culpeper residents said they were angry officials did not move quickly to release information about the shooting after witnesses contradicted the initial state police version of events.
A Culpeper resident started a “Justice for Patricia Cook” Facebook page and online petition calling for charges to be filed against Harmon-Wright. James Jennings also wants “a professional postmortem on how this happened.”
Culpeper’s mayor and police chief did not return calls for comment, but town spokesman Wally Bunker said there were no plans for such a review. He said Culpeper officials’ hands were tied about disseminating information because the state was handling the case.
“I certainly understand their anger, but we were in the same predicament. We were waiting for the results of the investigation just like they were,” he said.
Staff researcher Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
(AP) - Culpeper police officer Daniel Harmon-Wright, 32, of Gainesville, Va.
Attachments:
Re: Officer Indicted For Murder Has Local Ties
Posted by:
justsayin
()
Date: June 03, 2012 11:13AM
So does this mean the Dr. Culosi and Aaron Brown killers had worse internal affairs people, or better?